Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Reading a ton of Indie Authors lately...

No not authors from Indiana (although there is one or two of those) I'm talking about authors who self-publish their books on Kindle and Nook. They're not backed by a giant publishing house and most of them have full time jobs and families and are no different from me in that they write for the sheer joy of writing (and because our heads will explode if we don't get the chance to write these stories down) and they publish their works themselves because it's less troublesome, faster to get published, and gives a much better (according to some I spoke with) payout in terms of royalties.

You'll find my book reviews posted on the right side of my home page and you can bet there will be a whole lot of independent authors on this list. I've really had a blast meeting with and reading several of these writers and I think it's safe to say a whole new world of literary possibilities has opened up to us and it is a fantastic time to be a reader or a writer.

As an independent you never deal with those disheartening rejection letters, nor do you deal with watching your royalties subdivided up into chicken feed. But the question remains 'Are Indie authors just as good as those backed by large (and small) publishing houses'? The answer is yes and no. Just as we see with published authors some Indie's are magnificent in their storytelling abilities and some are mediocre. Some take their job as an author seriously and take the time to edit and polish a manuscript because they care about it and love it. Some write stories rife with plot holes, unbelievable characters, and spelling and grammar mistakes that a second grader could point out. But those are the same problems and issues you can find in the traditionally published books and authors.

That's the only difficulty in navigating the Indie market; Who is good and who is pushing crap for the sake of making money? The best thing you can do is read the reviews. Now there are some who get a long list of friends and relatives to write glowing reviews for their pile of fecal matter but there are many who are just that good. Next time you go to buy a book for your Kindle or Nook, take a second and look over the ones whose authors you've never heard of. You might just find a new favorite writer, I know I have found several.

2 comments:

Actually an Independent Author is nothing more than a published author who isn't connected with one of the "original" big six publishing houses. Back in the day, there was no such thing as Independent, self-published or anything like that because it cost far too much to produce a book. Now that it is quite feasible for one to do such a thing, there are waaaaay more Independent, self-published and small press authors. More of us than large published authors even. Unfortunately the publishing industry is slow to change and everything is geared toward large publishing. ESPECIALLY the archaic and outdated "industry" standard return policy that large bookstores "force" every publisher to adhere to even though it sinks all small publishers. Who would've ever thought it would be so difficult for things to mold to change. As a small published author I can tell you that it isn't happening fast enough. UGH!

After reading some of the drivel being put out by those large publishing houses I was thrilled to stumble across all those amazing authors on FaceBook. It's nice being able to read wonderful writing and not ever regretting the money you spent on the book.